The Art of Teaching — Surviving the Holiday Season

by Lizabeth A. Fogel

After the first of the year I will continue my discussion on communication. However, this time of year is a challenging one for teachers whether you are teaching in a private, public, or Hebrew school setting. The kids seem a little bit crazier and the teachers just want a break. Everyone is excited about the holidays and vacation. I thought I would take this opportunity to share some ideas about getting through the next week and a half.

There are two important points to help make these next few weeks’ fun, exciting, educational, and keep your sanity. Your first priority is keeping the class structure the same as always. The minute the students sense that you are “done”, they will take over and chaotic will ensue. If you have a schedule, stick to it. Make whatever you are doing relevant. Don’t do a project for the sake of using up time. You may want to add in a few more art projects or do a play, but remind the students they are still in school and all the rules for appropriate behavior apply.

Using Videos to Reinforce Lessons

by Laurie Bellet

Video can imprint some lessons in ways that nothing else can. These priceless moments can however, lose power when videos are used too often or without careful forethought and preparation. The next few weeks of school-free hours provide a wonderful opportunity to record movies and television clips for classroom use. Here are some tips:

By Twos and Fours

by Joel Lurie Grishaver

Last week I was a guest teacher in Gilroy, California. (Yes, the garlic capital.) In a very quiet way it was a life renewing experience. First, I sat with both students in the Bet class. These were two boys who, in a very quiet way, alternated between competing with each other and supporting each other. Then I taught all four students in the Alef class; three girls and one boy. There is something amazingly renewing about teaching students one, two, three, or four at a time. It reminds you that education is a conversation, not a chain of presentations. It cues you that teaching is as much about listening, and listening well, as it is about speaking. But most of all it clarifies the truth that a classroom is a few people sitting around a table talking, not an audience watching and evaluating a performance.

It is easy to cite Jewish texts up the gezipke that suggest that teaching is a relationship and establish a teacher’s obligation to students is not be entertaining, but to facilitate growth. But this is all clearer to see when you are sitting at a table with two students. We live a reality where our classes are held against the clock, where we are rushing with too much to accomplish in too little time. Our world is one where teachers are graded on entertainment value, and perhaps on niceness, but rarely on quality of communication, depth of knowledge and honesty.

Where most of us teach, our classes (depending on our pace) are either wind sprints or slow crawls through a desert hunting for the oasis. It is import for us to have a moment of renewal, of going back to sitting at a table with twos or fours and remembering that teaching is about is more about listening than it is about talking. Most of all, in the rush between music and dance, between late carpools and leaving early for soccer, it is important to remember that teaching is about knowing each student and learning with them. There is in good teaching, moments when the clock stops. All this is a truism, a too simple reality, till you sit again with just a few kids and remember.

The Art, Fun, and Some Science of Teaching Adults

by Debi M. Rowe

I have been teaching adults in congregational settings for over 20 years; I taught in the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School for two years, and I have been an instructor for intensive teacher training of Religious School teachers for nine years. The only training I have received in this context was through the Melton program—several hours with my colleague Roberta Louis Goodman, then the Associate Director of the Mini-School program. So, the thoughts I share with you are gleaned mostly from experience, and partly from reading some of the literature on adult learning.

I love teaching adults. They are self-motivated, most are experienced self-directed learners, and they are driven to succeed. In the main, this makes for the ideal group of students. Any teacher who enjoys watching the spark of understanding shine in the eyes of her learners should teach adults.

On the other hand, adults are often burdened with professional or familial pressures and time constraints. (On the day that I am writing this, one student has dropped my Beginning Hebrew class because his consulting business keeps him out of town too often.) These students frequently enter our congregational adult education classes as beginners, and, thus, feel that “everyone knows more than I do” or feel daunted by the road they see ahead.

So, let’s explore a bit about the learners themselves and some teaching strategies that might help maximize their chances for success.

The Art of Teaching—The Making of a Great Teacher

by Lizabeth A. Fogel

Last time I asked you to reflect on your educational history and chat with friends and colleagues about what are some good and bad characteristics of teachers. Researchers have asked parents, students, administration and teachers what characteristics make the best and worst teachers. Over the last several years while teaching both graduate students and elementary school children I have asked them what they think make the best teachers.

Santrock (2002, p. 13) reported the finding of this study conducted by NAASP:

Characteristics of Best Teacher
1) Having a sense of humor
2) Make the class interesting
3) Have knowledge of the subject
4) Explain things clearly
5) Spend time helping students
6) Are fair to the students
7) They want to treated as if they were older
8) Relate well to students
9) Are considerate of student’s feelings
10) Don’t show favoritism

Characteristics of Worst Teachers
1) Dull/boring class
2) Don’t explain things clearly
3) Show favoritism
4) Have a poor attitude
5) Expect too much from students
6) Don’t relate to students
7) Give too much homework
8) Are too strict
9) Don’t give individual help/attention
10) Lack of control

Some of my findings for what makes the best teachers:
1) Subject matter competence
2) Variety of instructional strategies
3) Goal setting for students and teacher
4) Strong classroom management
5) Motivational Skills
6) Communication Skills
7) Technology Skills
8) Wearing different “hats”
9) Empathy
10) Enthusiasm
11) Nurturing
12) Patient
13) Positive attitude
14) Organized

What I would like to do over the next several articles is explore in depth how you can gain or improve on these “best characteristics”. I want to start with the idea of communication which encompasses working with parent, students, other teachers, and lesson planning.

Communication skills include: Speaking, listening, writing and observation (nonverbal). These skills are not only critical when working with the students, but also the parents, administration and faculty. Effective teachers use good communication skills when talking “with” rather than “to” students, parents and others. The best type of communication is assertive rather than aggressive, manipulative or passive. Being assertive means being able to deal with conflicts, understand others emotions and how to react to them, asking for what you want, saying no to things you don’t want and acting in your own best interest with out under-minding others. This may sound easy, but a great teacher understands themselves and their reactions to others. Start journaling your thought and feeling about school issues and devising a plan for yourself on how you might react and handle certain situations.

Communicating With Kids

Creating a positive environment for the students is all about communicating your vision effectively. In general the authoritative style of teaching/management is considered the most effective teaching style; it was derived from Diana Baumrind’s parenting styles. Authoritative teachers engage student in conversations, showing that they care about what the students’ thing and say. They encourage their students to be independent thinkers and doers while providing modeling, monitoring, limits and structure. These elements are crucial for any teacher to be successful.

Modeling is the tendency to imitate the behaviors one observes in others. Good teachers are always modeling appropriate behaviors and how to do specific academic tasks. If you don’t model, how will your students know what to do? Or if you model inappropriate behaviors, they are likely to follow. This is especially true with younger students. You can talk until you are blue in the face, but until you show them what you expect and want they may not get it. For example, if you want their respect you must respect them, if you want them to listen you must listen to them, if you want them to do a project a specific way show them. Give then an outline for a writing project, make a sample of an art project or demonstrate on the board what you mean by a character web. After you have modeled what you want them to do, let them begin working in their teams, pair, or individually.

Next you must monitor your students. This means you can’t sit down, talk on the phone, correct papers, etc… while the students are in the room. You must have contact with your students. Walk around and ask them to explain what they are doing. This way you are checking on their understanding of the task. Sit with them. Develop gestures or signs for going to the bathroom, getting materials… so you don’t also have to talk. However, your voice can be a useful tool. Changing the tone, pitch or loudness (not yelling) can help you display many emotions. Make eye contact with students so they know you’re watching. If a student is having trouble staying focused sometime just being in close proximity can help them complete the assignment. Pull small groups of students who need extra help or who are more advance and work with them on the project while others are working quietly. And if you assign homework (which should be for review purposes only) make sure to correct it or collect it, this is another way to monitor the students’ progress and understanding of the material.

The teacher is in charge, you have the ability and a duty to set limits and develop the structure of the classroom. Limits or rules can either be set by the teacher or by the students and the teacher together. I like to involve the students (no matter what age) in developing the rules/standards that they must abide by. Involving them in the process helps with by-in, they are their rules/standards. However, you must have a list of your own prepared and during an open discussion lead the students in the development of “their” rules/standards that incorporate your ideas. You will be surprised that most of what they come up with was on your list. You don’t want more than five rules/standards otherwise it gets confusing. If you don’t set the rules/standards how will they know what is expected of them?

Once the rule/standards are set you must develop the rewards and consequences. Personally, I believe that appropriate behaviors is not something that is necessarily rewarded, it is expect and behaviors that are exceptional are in someway acknowledged and rewarded. However, behaviors that break the rules/standards must be dealt with and the students must be aware of the consequences of their actions. With whatever rules/standards you set up you must remember to be consistent, timely, follow through with rewards or punishments, and always avoid arguments.

This week if you have not set class rules/standards do it, it is never too late. During one of your lessons try modeling what you want and monitoring their behaviors and achievements. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by that they will produce. Next time we will look specifically on how to communicate with parents.